St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-08
A New Fad for Ladies.

1t is the fashion just now to be ''de-
voted" The Young woman of to-day
must be Il ritualist; she must keep
Lent" help decorate the church at
Easter, attend any amount of early Ser-
vices" during which she bends and
bows on every possible occasion, invest
i'll prie-dieuX, and hang the walls of
her room with Carlo Dolce and Guido
REM Mad0nnas; above all, she must do
church embroidery" The last occupa-
ton is both difficult and expensive. The
materials used must be of the very best.
and the qualifications necessary in the
worker are by no means few. Patience,
neatneSS, deXterity artistic taste, a
supertiuOus amount of spare time, and a
well-tilled purse, are all Indispensable.
1t is said, moreover, by those who know.
that no one should attempt this kind of
work unless she has absolutely cool dry
soft, and the nails well kept and evenly
pared down. Even that slight rough
ness which plain needlework often pro-
duceS OH the first finger of the left hand
is Il great hindrance to work with floss
silk, and, as a rule, the young woman
who is engaged upon an altar-clOth had
better leave all other stitchery alone.
The idea that embroidery is just
painting carried out with needle i'll
stead OF a brush is an entirely mis-
taken one" said an expert the other
day. ''Indeed, church embroidery is so
purely conventional that even the colOrS
of nature are by no means strictly adj
hered To. Leaves are often seen worked
i'll terra-cotta, lilac, blue or pink, and it
is the same way with flowers. To be
successful the embrOider should be
done in Il frame: small pieces may be
stretched in Il hand-frame. but larger
ones have to be fastened in standing
frames. Altar-clOthS are usually worked
in sections and united afterward. Strong
mbleached linen is used as the fOunda-
ton of the work. There is a theory that
the chemicals used i'll bleaching the
more highly dressed linen and cotton
goods tend to tarnish the god. When
the embroidery is finished the design is
edged all round with fine gold cord, and
is then cut out and transferred to back
ground Of either silk velvet or heavy
heavy ribbed silk.
sometimes the larger portions of the
design are filled in with solid material,
such as gold or silver tissue or brOcade.
which is tackled into place with silk of
the same color and outlined with gold
cord 'c0uched' into place. COUGHING is
a term only used in church embroidery.
1t means that a line of cord OF purse
silk is laid down along the outline that
is to be followed, and the left hand holds
it in position, and the needle, threaded
with finer silk of an appropriate color, is
brought through the work from the back
close to the cord, and carried over it and
put back again on the opposite side of
the cord TO that Oh which it was brought
up. This style of COUGHING is used only
for straight lines. In brick COUGHING,
three lines of purse silk are laid down
side by side quite fiat, like braid,
touching each other, but not overlap
brought from the back, thrown over the
three. threads, and then back again and
through to the wrong side. The second
row of the three lines is done in pre-
clSely the same way, care being taken
that the thrOWn-Over stitches come eX-
actly between those Of the first row, SO
that an appearance is given like the ar
rangement of bricks in a wall. Then
there is 'brOad-fiat' COUGHING and bat
tlemented COUGHING, and several other
different kinds. The most effective is
basket couching, which; is done with
lines of fine whip-cOrd. Round spaces.
are usually filled up with gold thread
laid down in a circular direction, or with
wheels worked over very fine whip
cord, which serves as the spOkes of the
wheel.
Faces are more difficult to manage
than anything else, and very fine silk is
required for them, which can only be
obtained at few New York houses.
Sometimes, if the eXpanse of face is
large, pale pink silk is applique within
the outline, and the features and shad-
ing are worked i'll delicately with fine
embroidery silk. Contrasts of color are
rarely used in church embroidery. The
different tints shade into one another,
and where contrasting cOl0rs are used
line of black of neutral tinted purse silk
is laid between them. Some OF the less
artistic work is done over a foundation
of cardboard, which is useful and
trouble-Saving idea, but is not to be rec
commended, for the cardboard soon
and prOtrudeS itself between the
stitches.
The style of embroidery which is
most used for kneeling cushions. car
pets, etc., is comparatively easy and can
be managed by almost anybody. 1t is
simply the Old-fashiOned Berlin wool
work done in frame, with tapestry
stitch taking the place of the cross
stitch. OF course the designs used are
ecclesiastical, and sometimes. when a
richer effect is desired, the cushions are
worked i'll tapestry stitch on velvet. The
canvas is laid on the velvet foundation
and the embroidery worked over 1.-THE
threads of the canvas being drawn away
afterward. Cushions and kneeling car
pets of this kind are to be seen now in
nearly all the pews at fashionable ritual
iStic churches.
Top Buggy
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